Polaris Shipping to exit supramax sector as VLOCs start rolling in

South Korea’s Polaris Shipping has put its only two supramaxes up for sale as a slew of much larger size newbuild vessels start to deliver into its fleet.

Brokers are circulating the 2013-built Solar Jade and Solar King, inviting offers for the pair by February 12. No price was indicated for the ships, with VesselsValue putting their values at just under $13m each. Both of the tier two vessels were built at China’s Taizhou Sanfu and have ballast water treatment units fitted.

The move to sell comes as Polaris prepares to take in several much larger size newbuild vessels. According to VesselsValue, Polaris has 18 dry bulk vessels on order made up of two newcastlemaxes and sixteen VLOCs, with four of the VLOCs set to deliver this year from Hyundai Heavy Industries.

Polaris has been ordering big off the back of a COA deal signed with Brazilian miner Vale.

Grant spent nine years at Informa Group based in London, Sydney, Hong Kong and Singapore. He gained strong management experience in publishing, conferences and awards schemes in the shipping and legal areas, working on a number of titles including Lloyd's List. In 2009 Grant joined Seatrade responsible for the commercial development of Seatrade’s Asia products. In 2012, with Sam Chambers, he co-founded Asia Shipping Media.